


The Color of Kryptonite

by wizardofahz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 14:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6379690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wizardofahz/pseuds/wizardofahz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nyssa appears in National City, and her friendship with Alex has Kara feeling green.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Color of Kryptonite

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because, jeebus, Alex needs friends, but also I need Danvers sisters feels. Enjoy!

Kara’s heart drops as her ears pick up Alex’s pained grunt, which is followed by another one. And then another one.

She quickly knocks out the three hive-minded aliens she’s been fighting and redirects her attentions towards Alex.

Alex is all the way across the warehouse and in the middle of five aliens, but Kara’s fast. And determined. There’s no way she’s going to let any being, alien or human, kill her sister.

Still, she’s beat to it.

A woman clad in black, wielding a sword of all things, intervenes. With her assistance, Alex regains the upper hand, the two of them working fluidly together as if themselves a single entity. 

When the entire hive is taken care of and they regroup, Kara thinks she hears disapproval in Hank’s voice as he greets the mystery woman, “Ms. Raatko.”

“Director Henshaw,” responds the mystery woman easily. She has the confident yet casual air of an apex predator. The mental image Kara immediately gets is one of a panther lounging openly in the sun without a care in the world. 

“I can’t see what business the League of Assassins has here, but I guess I should be thanking you for your assistance,” Hank says begrudgingly. She helped save Alex after all. In his eyes, that’s no small matter.

But Kara’s mind has locked in on a singular word. “Assassins?” 

“The League of Assassins is no more,” the Raatko woman says, paying Kara’s shock and confusion no mind.

“What?” The disbelief in Alex’s voice doesn’t hold the approval that Kara expects. It’s pure surprise. It confuses Kara even further.

“I disbanded it,” Raatko explains, a hint of pride laced in her words and face.

Alex echoes the sentiment with a smile. “Good for you.”

“So what are you doing in National City?” Hank asks. 

Nyssa doesn’t seem at all bothered by the suspicion in his voice. “I came to visit Alexandra. I assure you the timing of my arrival is a mere coincidence.”

Kara cringes at the newcomer’s use of Alex’s full name. Who does this woman think she is?

But Alex takes it in stride and responds with a good-natured, “It’s nice to see you too, Mother. Didn’t know I was in trouble though.”

“Alex,” the other woman corrects herself, and Alex rewards her with a smile.

“Much better.”

Unwilling to stay the confused outsider any longer, Kara thrusts her hand forward. “I’m Supergirl.”

“Nyssa Raatko,” the woman introduces herself, taking Kara’s hand, and though Kara squeezes slightly harder than necessary, Nyssa’s face shows no sign of it. “It’s nice to make your acquaintance.” 

Nyssa gives her a lazy predatory grin, and the image of the carefree panther springs into Kara’s mind once again.

Alex turns to Hank. “Am I needed here or can I take the rest of the day?”

Hank gives her a  _ we’re going to have a talk about this  _ look but nods his approval anyways.

And then Alex and Nyssa are gone.

Kara means to ask Alex about Nyssa, but life gets in the way as it’s wont to do. In fact, Nyssa has almost slipped entirely from Kara’s mind before she rears her head again. 

“Double cheese pizza and  _ Call the Midwife _ ?” Kara asks a few days later as she bounds into Alex’s lab, cape fluttering behind her.

“I can’t,” Alex responds apologetically as she puts a 24-well tissue culture plate in the incubator. “I’m meeting Nyssa for dinner.”

“Oh.” 

That’s a surprise. Usually when Alex declines take out and tv shows, it’s because she has work or she’s encouraging Kara to spend time with other people. This is a first for the  _ Alex also has a social life  _ category.

“Yeah, Nyssa really wants fries and a milkshake, so we’re going to the diner around the corner from my place.” Alex pauses midway through taking off her gloves, brow furrowing at the thought. “I can’t imagine Nyssa dipping fries into a milkshake much less liking it.” She shrugs it off, peeling the gloves off the rest of the way and tossing them in the biohazard waste bin. “It’s probably Sara’s influence.”

Kara has no idea who Sara is.

It’s okay though because Alex deserves a life, friends, to be her own person.

But then it keeps happening.

It’s not that Kara is jealous - okay, she is a little jealous - but she’s used to having access to Alex whenever she wants or needs her.  She wonders if Alex feels the same way when she spends time with James and Winn. Probably not because Alex is…  _ Alex. _ She’s strong and above lowly insecurities like this.

Kara must get really bad at hiding her disappointment because, after the fifth time or so, Alex takes a look at her face and says, “Sorry, I probably should’ve asked this ages ago. Do you want to meet her? I mean, get to know her since you technically already met her. I’m sure Nyssa won’t mind if you come along.”

Not knowing Nyssa isn’t really the issue, but Kara figures if Alex can spend time with James and Winn, then she can get to know this Nyssa person. 

But Nyssa doesn’t make it easy.

“So how did you two meet?” Kara asks after they order. The idea of her good wholesome sister being friends with an assassin is still bizarre to her. 

“I almost killed her,” Nyssa says with a smirk, and Kara stares.

Alex rolls her eyes. Trust Nyssa to start the story with the part that will immediately put Kara on edge.

“We were after the same target,” she explains to Kara, shooting Nyssa a look that only makes her smirk more pronounced. 

Alex doesn’t get to explain any further. Her phone rings, and after a quick conversation, she stands.

“Sorry, it’s work. I have to go,” Alex apologizes. Then she asks, “Actually, you wanna come?”

But her words aren’t directed at Kara. No, they’re directed at Nyssa, who accepts her invitation without hesitation, leaving Kara alone. Kara ends up eating all three of their dinners when they arrive. She doesn’t care what waitstaff thinks of her.

It’s fitting that green is the color associated with envy on this planet because it feels like Kryptonite. It throws her off-kilter, seeps into her bones, and dampens her mood. 

Kara mulls over those thoughts for a week before bringing them up with Alex.

“I’m jealous,” Kara says as she follows Alex into the DEO armory after an easy alien recapture.

Alex smirks as she puts her guns back on their appropriate shelves. 

“What did James do this time? Or was it Lucy?” she asks, tone somewhere between sisterly concern and teasing. Kara knows her love… triangle? rectangle? pentagon?... n-shaped polygon, where n is determined by the circumstances of the week, amuses Alex.

“It’s Nyssa.”

Everything put away, Alex freezes with her hand on the door. She turns back to Kara, the look on her face pure confusion. “Nyssa?”

Kara fidgets awkwardly. “It feels like every time I want to hang out, you can’t because you have plans with Nyssa.”

Alex lets her hand fall from the door handle and takes a step towards her sister. “Kara, I had dinner with you three nights ago. And those nights in between: one we spent recapturing a Fort Rozz prisoner, and the other you were doing something with James, Winn, and Lucy.” 

Kara knows all this. It doesn’t help her feel any better. “I’m not used to you being unavailable when I want you.”

“This is like the frequency illusion. You notice it more when I can’t because of Nyssa, so it seems more frequent than it is. We still hang out all the time.” Alex’s expression contorts into something halfway between amused and offended. “And I do have friends, you know.” 

“I know. I’m just not used to them coming before me.”

Maybe they had when she’d first crashlanded into Alex’s life, but it’s been a long time since then. Even Alex’s job is evidence of that. While most of her friends have stayed around Stanford, getting rich in the booming biotech industry, Alex has made her priority keeping Kara safe.

“She’s not,” Alex says. “Nyssa’s whole life has been dedicated to the League of Assassins. Now that it’s gone, she’s trying to figure out how she fits into this new world. She trusts me to help with that, so I am.”

“Exactly!” Kara exclaims, thrusting her hands out, her point made. “It’s like you’re replacing me.”

“Kara,” Alex says, placing her hands on her little sister’s shoulders and ducking her head to look into Kara’s eyes. “You’re my sister. No one is ever going to replace you.”

“You asked Nyssa to fight the Valeronian with you,” Kara says, aware that she sounds like she’s whining.

Alex rubs her thumb against Kara’s shoulder. “Yeah, because she doesn’t know you’re Supergirl. I mean, she’s probably figured it out, but still, I have to keep up the pretense in case she doesn’t. If we needed to call you in, what excuse would you have used to get away from dinner if I left Nyssa with you? It was just cleaner to have her out of the way.” 

“You didn’t call me in.”

“Nyssa and I handled it.”

“Exactly. Would you have called me if she wasn’t there?”

“I don’t know, but, Kara, I was doing what I could to try and protect you.” Alex pauses as Vasquez knocks on the window to get their attention. She gives Vasquez of acknowledgment then continues, “You’re my little sister, and you will always come first. You’re still coming first. Okay?”

Kara nods and mumbles, “I’m sorry. I know this is stupid.”

“It’s not stupid, and you have nothing to be sorry for. We feel what we feel.” Alex pulls Kara into a hug, and Kara automatically sinks into her. “We’ll work through this together.”

And they do.

Kara gets used to Alex spending time with Nyssa. She even gets used to Nyssa. It turns out Nyssa’s known that Kara is Supergirl all along, and rather than tell the Danvers sisters, she’d decided it was more fun to mess with them. 

Once they get over that, everything is smooth sailing.

“You wear your heart on your sleeve,” Nyssa tells Kara one afternoon as they watch Alex get patched up in medical. “Your sister does too when you’re involved. That is a dangerous thing to do, especially in battle.” 

“She’ll do whatever it takes to protect me, and I’d do the same for her,” Kara retorts defensively.

“Then do so. But do not expose your love for one another as a weakness and hand it to your enemies on a silver platter.” Nyssa watches the stubborn set of Kara’s jaw and knows that it will take more than a few words for her advice to sink in. “Come. You need to decompress.”

By the time Alex is released from medical (“sneaks out of medical” is what J’onn and the disapproving DEO doctor like to call it, but really it’s just semantics), Kara and Nyssa are topside. She finds Nyssa firing off arrows at a rapid pace in any and every direction and height. Kara zooms about, catching each arrow before it hits the ground. 

Alex smiles and waits a while for Nyssa’s quiver to empty. But it’s still half-full when Kara makes a beeline for Nyssa. She deposits her catch back into Nyssa’s quiver before zooming back into the open sky to catch the next arrow. Nyssa doesn’t miss a beat.

Alex raises her eyebrows. Her eyes squint. “Wait. Are you playing fetch with my sister?”

Turns out, Kara prefers to think of it as Quidditch practice.


End file.
